Year: 2014
Type: editorial
Abstract: In the last 50 years, major therapeutic advances in childhood cancer care have transformed pediatric oncology.Although childhood cancer incidence rates have increased significantly from 1975 to 2006, 1 overall survival rates for childhood cancer have improved dramatically from 58% in the 1970s to 83%, based on the most recent data. 2 The compound impact of increasing incidence and improving survival is that, today, more than 320,000 individuals live as survivors of childhood cancer in the United States. 3Childhood cancer is not the only health challenge that many of these individuals will face in their lifetimes; a survey of the largest cohort of pediatric cancer survivors revealed that two thirds of all survivors will develop a chronic medical condition, with more than one-third experiencing a severe or lifethreatening condition. 4onetheless, the inadequacies of survivorship health care are well recognized.From the paradigmatic longitudinal cohort of childhood cancer survivorship, the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study, it is clear that fewer than half of adult survivors received a cancer-related visit in the last 2 years and that patients without health insurance are most at risk for lack of appropriate follow-up. 5Among those who sought clinical follow-up, patients who were black, older at the interview, or uninsured were less likely to receive risk-based, survivor-focused care, and fewer than half received survivor-focused risk-based screening. 6Difficulty acquiring health insurance is a common problem for adult survivors of childhood cancer (29% in a separate Childhood Cancer Survivor Study had difficulty with insurance coverage) compared with only 3% in a comparison cohort of the survivors' siblings.
Source: Journal of Clinical Oncology
Institutions: University of Michigan, Massachusetts General Hospital
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: G2529919241, G691703722, G8258161237
OpenAlex ID: W2156611202